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Digital music questions

I'm somewhat new to hi res digital audio and I'm looking for some tips. I have been building my system and have purchased McIntosh c2700, which has a DAC built in, a 462 amp, and B&W 802d4s. Using Apple Music, I have been streaming music through a Macbook Pro via a USB cable to the DAC of the c2700 preamp.

The McIntosh preamp states the streaming quality is 44.1 kHz, which seem to be the low end of high-res streaming. I currently have so many subscriptions, including Sirius XM for the cars and Apple Music for my family, and more recently Nugs for concerts, (not to mention video subscriptions...seems it never ends), so I was hoping not to add another paid subscription.

That being said, am I leaving a lot on the table? Would a dedicated streamer sound a lot better than the Macbook Pro? Are there streamers without DACs, so I can use the McIntosh DAC without purchasing redundant equipment? I understand I cannot use Apple Music to get high res audio to the preamp, as they only provide it through Apple equipment at this time. Can I get a streamer that uses the DAC of the c2700 preamp? Finally, do I then need to add another subscription, such as Tidal or Qobuz, to get high res audio? 

Thanks....it's a lot of questions, but I'm sure someone here can help!

cmb13
chocaholic
189 posts
 

Another vote for a BlueSound Node through an external DAC. In my case a Denefrips Pontus ii 12th. Remember, you can spend a large fortune to result in a minuscule change to sound quality. And there’s a difference between “better” sound and “different” sound. Only you can decide which it is. 

rhtowson
15 posts
 

Sorry - forgot to mention that Apple Music isn't native to the Bluesound and if you use it with a Bluesound, it will have to be streamed thru your phone and then via AirPlay to the Bluesound.

norton
83 posts
 

I use a Cambridge streamer into a Mac preamp and have it hooked up two ways so I can listen to either the Mac's DAC or the Cambridge's. I prefer the Cambridge for some reason.

I'm using Spotify and have also tried Pandora and think they both sound "ok". I was using a cheap Grace digital when I first got into streaming and thought it sounded decent and you can still but one of those for less than $200 as I just bought one for the garage setup.

mariddock
20 posts
 

Another vote for the BlueSound Node and Denafrips Pontus II 12th. When I added the Denafrips Iris DDC, the sound opened up in a unexpected way and it's amazing what this DDC has done in cleaning up the signal with the blackest background. 

sgreg1
612 posts
 

Yes you can spend 10’s of thousands of dollars setting up a streaming system and it will sound very good. You can also spend only a few thousand and still get really good sound. Mid level dac and streamer will get you to 85% and then you sit back and ask us $10,000 more worth that last 15%? I use both Qobuz and Apple Music and I can tell you Apple Music just does not sound good. I have it set to hi res lossless and it just sounds muddy like there is a blanket over the speakers. I don’t know what they are or are not doing with their systems but wish they would address it. One thing though you do need to dig into the setting under general > music and make sure you change the defaults to hi res lossless.

Yes bits are bits but jitter and noise introduced into the signal affects the end sound. When using your left brain that is how you need to look at streaming. Thing is that you can’t hear the noise until it is eliminated. I as well was using my MacBook to send Qobuz to dac with usb and thought is was great. Then I tried a dedicated streamer and was quite shocked at the difference. This is with a Gustard r26 $1600, then $500 of mods to it, eversolo streamer $800. I am very happy with my streaming set up and do not feel I have to add $1000’s for that extra 15% that is out there.

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